Prince William and Kate choose commoners as godparents for Prince George: Reports

With only a few more days until the christening of Prince George of Cambridge, speculation about his parents’ choice of godparents is heating up in the British press.

Several reports have concluded that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen their close friends for the important role, a change from royal godparents of the past, who were usually royals and the titled elite.

“The couple are said to be planning to ask friends out of the public eye to give their son a sense of normality as he grows up,” the Daily Mail says.

The Sunday Times is reporting a preliminary list of trusted friends who will apparently get the nod: Fergus Boyd, one of Prince William’s Eton school chums and a former roommate of the couple, Emilia d’Erlanger, one of Kate’s old friends, and Hugh van Cutsem, Prince William’s loyal friend.

“The couple’s decision to choose friends from school and childhood is in stark contrast to William’s own godparents from his 1982 christening: The former King Constantine of Greece, Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, the Duchess of Westminster, Lady Susan Hussey, Lord Romsey and Sir Laurens van der Post,” reports the Daily Telegraph.

The official list of godparents has yet to be released, but Prince William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, and Kate’s younger sister, Pippa Middleton, are widely believed to be on the list as well.

There are expected to be six godparents. Phoebe Luckhurst of The Evening Standard says the couple seeks to form a “circle of trust” around their son. “The godparent pool is limited to those who have known one or both parents since childhood and who have stayed completely shtum when controversy threatened,” she explains. “These friends treat them like people, not headlines.”

Lukhurst believes others in the running are former housemates Virginia Fraser, Olivia Bleasdale, Oliver Baker and Alasdair Coutts-Wood as well as Alicia Fox-Pitt, another one of Kate’s friends.